Dr.Al
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 2,064
- Location
- Gloucestershire, UK
Hi all,
I've currently got the "R-Tech Auto True Colour HD XXL Welding Helmet" (R-Tech code RT-WMASK5). I've been having a lot of problems with it and will hopefully soon return it for a refund. Can anyone recommend any similarly priced (£100 ish) big screen true colour auto-darkening welding helmets that they've got and have found to be good?
At first I was really impressed with the R-Tech one (much, much nicer and clearer than my previous cheapo helmet), but there seems to be a rather serious design flaw with it. You turn it on by pressing a button inside the helmet. After 15 minutes of inactivity, it turns itself off. Problem is, it also sometimes turns itself off when not inactive. I first had the problem when I was doing a MIG course and was playing with one of the college's arc welders. It turned itself off mid-weld. After my eyes had recovered, I turned the helmet back on and had another go and halfway through the next bead it turned itself off again. It was only a few months old and the battery warning light hadn't come on. I contacted R-Tech and they (very promptly, to their credit) sent a replacement filter unit (the electronics box inside the helmet).
Unfortunately, the replacement does exactly the same thing. At first I'd only experienced it when using the college welders (three different units, all while arc welding), but never when using my Parweld arc welder or my R-Tech TIG welder. However, last night I was trying doing some higher current (160 A) DC TIG welding and it happened three times within the space of a few minutes, so I'm convinced there's a fundamental design issue with the helmet (presumably poor EMC shielding and/or microcontroller firmware implementation). I contacted R-Tech last night (still waiting for a response as I write this); my hope is that I can return it for a refund and use the money to buy a different one, hence this post.
I've currently got the "R-Tech Auto True Colour HD XXL Welding Helmet" (R-Tech code RT-WMASK5). I've been having a lot of problems with it and will hopefully soon return it for a refund. Can anyone recommend any similarly priced (£100 ish) big screen true colour auto-darkening welding helmets that they've got and have found to be good?
At first I was really impressed with the R-Tech one (much, much nicer and clearer than my previous cheapo helmet), but there seems to be a rather serious design flaw with it. You turn it on by pressing a button inside the helmet. After 15 minutes of inactivity, it turns itself off. Problem is, it also sometimes turns itself off when not inactive. I first had the problem when I was doing a MIG course and was playing with one of the college's arc welders. It turned itself off mid-weld. After my eyes had recovered, I turned the helmet back on and had another go and halfway through the next bead it turned itself off again. It was only a few months old and the battery warning light hadn't come on. I contacted R-Tech and they (very promptly, to their credit) sent a replacement filter unit (the electronics box inside the helmet).
Unfortunately, the replacement does exactly the same thing. At first I'd only experienced it when using the college welders (three different units, all while arc welding), but never when using my Parweld arc welder or my R-Tech TIG welder. However, last night I was trying doing some higher current (160 A) DC TIG welding and it happened three times within the space of a few minutes, so I'm convinced there's a fundamental design issue with the helmet (presumably poor EMC shielding and/or microcontroller firmware implementation). I contacted R-Tech last night (still waiting for a response as I write this); my hope is that I can return it for a refund and use the money to buy a different one, hence this post.